Wood Types

Traditional Wood Types

Hickory

If
you are looking for strength, hardness, and durability; Hickory is the best commercially
available wood in North America. The grain is normally straight, but can sometimes
be irregular or wavy. Hickory has a coarse texture, with a great deal of color variation
between reddish brown, lighter brown, and white.

Soft Maple

Soft
Maple is considered a paint grade because of minor mineral streaking, in addition
to its close grained texture creating a more than adequate painting surface. Having
medium density, hardness, and strength, its machining and finishing properties are
good, as is its stability. This fine textured and close grained wood does not require
filling.

Red Oak

Red
Oak is a wood that is known for being very hard, heavy, and strong. However, given
its density, it is actually fairly easy to work. Like Hickory, it does have a coarse
texture. Red Oak turns, carves, and bends well. It is also characterized by having
excellent sanding and finishing properties, and great stability.

Knotty Pine

Knotty
Pine is a lightweight wood, characterized by a straight grain and a fine, even texture.
While knots are prevalent in the wood, the knots tend to be small and tight, giving
the wood the signature rustic look that pine is so well known for, Knotty Pine is
dimensionally stable and durable.

Rubberwood

Belonging to the Maple family, Rubberwood has very little tendency
to warp or crack, as well as a dense grain character. Another benefit is that it
is Earth Friendly. Unlike other trees used for lumber, Rubberwood is not harvested
until it can no longer be used for its latex-producing sap; and then when it is
harvested, new rubber trees are planted.

Metallic Selection

Flat Black Finish

With its black powder coating, metal corbels available in the
flat black finish easily complement lighter colored wood types or stone facades
alike. This smooth finish gives the appearance of a cast iron, but allows for the
light weight of wrought aluminum. The smooth and rich black finish is sleek looking,
though it is not glossy.

Brushed Aluminum

The brushed aluminum finish draws its name from the fact that
the metal is physically brushed to give a textured appearance, and then finished
with a clear coat. This finish works particularly well when contrasting darker wood
finishes, such as Black Walnut, or even Cherry or Mahogany finished with a dark
stain.

Antique Cast Iron

The antique cast iron finish chosen by Osborne was carefully selected
with an eye toward authenticity of appearance. It has both the visual and tactile
feeling that is found on genuine cast iron work but with lower maintenance and a
longer life.

Brushed Copper

The copper finish we carefully selected is situated has a slightly
aged appearance. We stopped short of a full patination as it is too dark. Conversely,
we avoided a new penny look. The result is a finish that quickly identifies itself
as copper but which is neither too dark nor to light. It will blend well with surrounding
copper elements such as hardware.

Chrome

Our
chrome finish is a highly polished chrome that is plated to a fine zinc alloy that
has been chosen for weight and durability. The chrome finish is mirror clear and
is reminiscent of the finish found on expensive faucet sets. This finish will hold
its own around any fine hardware that is used on surrounding cabinetwork.

Stainless Steel

All of our stainless steel products are produced from high quality,
thick gauge stainless steel. You can feel the quality of craftsmanship and materials
the minute you touch the products. Although stainless steel is frequently associated
with designs that reflect an industrial design aesthetic, stainless steel can serve
equally well as a counterbalance when introduced into more complicated design work.

Gun Metal Gray

Our gunmetal gray finish is a polished finish applied to a fine
quality zinc alloy base. The result is a timeless, elegant appearance that lends
itself to projects where quiet sophistication is called for. The inclusion products
in our gunmetal gray finish can be selected to successfully compliment other cabinet
hardware or may be used as stand-alone pieces that harmonize on a quieter level.

Bronze

Osborne
replicates the original copper-and-tin recipe that is used to create beautiful bronze
by applying a faultless bronze finish over a fine quality zinc based alloy that
results in a product that is both attractive and durable. This allows us to offer
products with all of the luxury of bronze but without the extreme weight that is
usually associated with bronze products.

Premium Wood Types

Alder

Alder
is characterized by its straight grain and even texture. Its reddish brown color
often looks similar to Cherry. While Alder is often used to mimic Cherry, its rich
tone is beautiful. And certainly warrants use for its own distinct qualities. Though
it dents relatively easy, it offers a stable surface.

Cherry

Cherry
wood is moderately heavy, hard, and strong, and it also machines and sands to glass-like
smoothness. Because of this, Cherry finishes beautifully. The heartwood in Cherry
is red in color, and the sapwood is light pink. Components made of Cherry generally
consist of approximately 25% sapwood and 75% heartwood.

Hard Maple

Hard Maple is considered our stain grade Maple, because it is
more consistent in color than its “cousin,” Soft Maple. The wood is
characterized as dense, and light in color. Similar to our Soft Maple, Hard Maple
is a fine textured and close grained wood that does not require filling.

Mahogany

Not
only one of the most valuable timbers in Africa, this species is also one of the
foremost cabinet woods in the world. Mahogany is characterized as having straight
to interlocked grain and a medium coarse texture. The wood varies slightly in color
from a light reddish brown to a medium red.

Red Birch

The
heartwood of Yellow Birch is red in color. While it is softer than Red Oak, it does
actually have a tighter grain, which makes it very easy to finish. Red Birch is
similar to Cherry in its appearance, as well as in its density and its resistance
to abrasion.

Black Walnut

Black walnut is considered a rare wood type, and it is quite durable
and strong. Its coloration can be light to chocolate brown, and may contain burls,
butts, and curls. The sapwood is usually white in color, and may be as high as 25%,
but we have it steamed to make it a light coffee color, allowing for better color
uniformity.

Lyptus

Lyptus
lumber comes from Eucalyptus trees grown to CERFLOR standards, Brazil’s national
sustainable forestry standard. Lyptus is pruned throughout its growing process,
which means it grows straight and relatively knot-free; reducing waste. Also, it
is a fast growing tree, making it an easily replenished lumber source. Lyptus rivals
Cherry and Mahogany in appearance, while having properties similar to Hard Maple.

Specialty Woods

Beech

Beech
is a heavy, pale -colored, medium-to-hard wood. It is a fine, tight grain and has
large medullar rays. Beech is similar in appearance to maple and birch. One excellent
characteristic of Beech is that fact that it does stain and polish well. Beech is
a wood with high crush strength and medium stiffness.

Spanish Cedar

Spanish Cedar is a freshly cut heartwood that is pinkish to reddish
brown but becomes red or dark reddish brown upon exposure. The wood is coarser than
that of mahogany. Spanish Cedar has many other great qualities such as being durable,
light but strong and is a straight grain wood.

Western Red Cedar

Western Red Cedar has twice the stability of most commonly available
softwoods. Although Western Red Cedar is one of the world's most durable woods it
however lacks in strength. Western Red Cedar has a uniform texture and is also a
straight grained wood. One great characteristics of Western Red Cedar is that it
is one of the easiest woods to work with.

Knotty Alder

Knotty Alder is a hardwood of medium density that features a color
range of light browns with reddish hues. Knotty Alder, being true to its name, features
large split knots and open knots that vary in size. The knots can come in a variety
of shapes and colors which can cause the knots to take stain differently than the
rest of the wood. Some knots may also be completely through the wood, making this
wood a perfect choice for rustic style projects.

White Oak

White
Oak, an American hardwood, ranges in color from a very light color to a light to
dark brown heartwood. White oak is much harder and heavier than the Red Oak. White
oak is characterized by a mostly straight grained wood with a medium to coarse texture.
The white oak will exhibit longer rays than that of the Red Oak, giving it more
figure. The tighter, straighter grain pattern does not allow stain to penetrate
the grain as easily resulting in a more consistent finish.

Tiger Maple

Tiger Maple has a unique pattern to it, the pattern travels across
the grain and can look like stripes, waves or small flames. The curly grain can
make tiger maple less stable than straight grained maple. Tiger Wood is a hard durable
wood and is a frequent choice for custom-made furniture.

Heart Pine

Heart Pine is a wood where the color ranges from dark rich amber
to various shades of golden yellow. When Heart Pine is exposed to light it does
cause the wood to darken and yellow with time. Heart Pine is softer than red oak
yet quite dense and strong. The grain of Heart Pine is open and broad with some
knots as well.

Douglas Fir

Douglas Fir, also known as the Oregon Pine, is a light rosy colored
wood that reddens overtime. It is a tight knotted and close-grained wood that has
a high degree of stiffness as well. IF you are looking to paint or stain this wood
it holds all types of stains and finishes. Douglas Fir is dimensionally stable.

Cypress

Cypress
wood, which is found along the Atlantic Coastal Plain from Delaware to Florida,
is noted for color consistency, density, hardness, and relative lack of knots. It
has a predominantly yellow tone with reddish, chocolate, or olive hues. Cypress
has oils in the heartwood that make it very durable.

Finished Wood

Looking for Finished Wood Components

If you are looking for a Osborne Products that are already finished you can
easily have your products shipped to
Cabinet-Mart for finishing services

This page describes several of the different wood types offered by Osborne Wood
Products, Inc. Please be aware that we use solid squares to make our legs whenever
we can. However, when we cannot get these, the squares will be made of several boards
glued together. Some prefer this because it does make the leg more stable. Others
would prefer solids because of uniform color. If you need to know if a turning for
your order is from a solid square or is a laminated part please feel free to call
us. Also if you need another type of wood, please submit
a quote.